“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” John Muir

The pictures and thoughts in this calendar invite you to play and pray, however you do that in your personal journey, and to give yourself permission to find healing from life’s wounds, nourishment for your soul, and capacity to flourish.

This year’s calendar features the footprints of John Muir and the inspiration of Ansel Adams across these pages. Both were early advocates for wilderness areas in the United States. Muir’s activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Mt. Rainier National park and other wilderness areas while Ansel Adams is the benchmark in how to photograph them, especially Yosemite.

This year, I’m adding brief stories of the people that cross my path in my peacemaking work, featured in some of the thumbnails at the bottom of each month. Check the stories in “Faces of my world” at: http://worldlyholiness.com/faces/

Additionally, you may purchase limited edition prints, greeting cards, and other merchandise featuring my photos from this year’s calendar. See the back inside cover for more information or here to purchase a photo product: http://andrewlarsenphotography.smugmug.com/

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Featured Photos:

Cover–The Gentle Arch in Arches Nat’l Park.

January–Yellowstone Falls

February–Pacific Ocean @ Los Osos, California

March–Tatoosh Range in Mt. Rainier Nat’l Park

April–Skagit Valley Tullips in Washington

May–Suzzallo Graduate Library at the U of Washington

June–Desert in Arches Nat’l Park

July–Ansel Adams Wilderness Sky

August–Pacific Ocean waves in Oregon

September–John Muir Trail sunset in Yosemite Nat’l Park

October–Colorado Aspens

November–New England Home

December–Mt. Rainier near Paradise

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Plus a series on the back stories of each place featured and the faces of my world.

We are more alike than different

Biologically, our ancestral differences reflect only a 0.1 percent difference in DNA. Yet we often cling to those differences — both in unity with our fellow people of origin and, at times, in divisiveness.

Over all, the experiment has provided a special opportunity to explore the lines of race. I found that as human beings, our strategies for survival are the same, and our similarities far outweigh our differences.
Anita Foeman, professor of communication studies

Do Something for Peace

Thanks for stopping by. I'm in constant search for beauty, and try to capture it with my camera. I also look for ways to restore shalom between cultures and peoples that may not see the image of God in their other. I seek to follow Jesus and his invitation to make peace. I love photography, coffee, hiking, time with friends, and a good book. Poke around here. Enjoy the pictures, reflections and stories.